Stars of the 21st Century
The Koffler Centre of the Arts
At the Toronto Centre for the Arts
In Toronto on Sunday
Producer Solomon Tencer and artistic director Nadia Veselova-Tencer have been mounting ballet galas for 11 years around the world, the last five in Toronto under the auspices of the Koffler Centre of the Arts. This is the show that ballet fans salivate over because it brings a lineup of international superstars who would never come our way otherwise.
There was a change this year in the repertoire and it is good news. The Tencers are starting to push buttons. Rather than an endless parade of Russian classic warhorse pas de deux, there were only two, (Le Corsaire and Don Quixote), both performed by Alina Somova and Leonid Sarafanov of the Kirov Ballet. The rest of the pieces (except for one piece of flamenco exotica) were, for the most part, edgy contemporary ballet.
Just two Russian Imperial-style pas de deux puts them in stark relief to be better appreciated. Some of the audience may have preferred more of this sugar candy of old, but it was clear that the Tencers have educated the eye over the years. The cheers were as loud for some of the provocative modern pieces as for the Kirov speed demons.
Ballet is truly a global village. Of the seven companies represented in the ballet gala Stars of the 21st Century, only three had their own nationals as representatives. Clearly, the world is their oyster for talented dancers in search of a home that will provide the optimum artistic environment.
Sarafanov (Ukraine) and Somova (Russia) are brilliant dancers. Of that there is no doubt. Nonetheless, Le Corsaire had near misses and incomplete finishes. The couple redeemed themselves with a near-perfect Don Quixote. Her foot and arm placement is exquisite and his tours en l'air are thrilling.
The National Ballet of Canada's Guillaume Côté got the evening off to a dynamic start with The Calm Below, choreographed by Roberto Campanella to a moody score by Côté himself. The title is ironic. A composer sits at a grand piano and then riffs into his own subconscious, which is in a frightful turmoil. Côté physically negotiated Campanella's tortured twists and turns with his customary passion, and the finale, where he literally throws himself over the piano, made everyone gasp.
The gala was graced by two married couples. Munich Ballet's Lucia Lacarra (Spain) and Cyril Pierre (France) have appeared in every Tencer gala and are one of ballet's most beloved and enduring partnerships. Davide Bombana's vague and abstract Century Rolls allowed Pierre to manipulate the gamin Lacarra like a feather, but the couple's finest moment was Roland Petit's achingly romantic Thaïs Pas de Deux, which closed the evening. Who can ever forget Pierre turning in a slow circle, holding Lacarra above his head in a one-arm lift as the lights faded?
The other marrieds are American Ballet Theatre's Maxim Beloserkovsky and Irina Dvorovenko (Ukraine). They performed Marie Chimengiller's drippy Farewell Duet, a piece of sentimental drivel, and Twyla Tharp's cutesy Known By Heart "Junk" Duet, where perky girl teases callow boy and so on. What saved both pieces was their consummate artistry. Both are charismatic dancers with technique by the yard.
Stuttgart Ballet's Alicia Amatriain (Spain) and Mikhail Kaniskin (Russia) got the laughs of the evening with Christian Spuck's outrageous Le Grand Pas de Deux to Rossini's The Thieving Magpie overture. It is a very funny parody of Russian classic style, with Kaniskin just trying to get through it, and Amatriain, glasses and purse included, being a total klutz.
The couple's rendering of William Forsythe's In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated was one of the gala's high points. Both showed just the right amount of in-your-face-with-attitude to pull off this very urban punk ballet of angles and distortions.
Of most interest was the choreography of independent artist Leo Mujic (Serbia), who danced with the fabulous Ilja Louwen (the Netherlands), a current member of Zurich Ballet. Both The Taste of the Lost Moment and Passacaglia dealt with couples in crisis. Mujic's choreography style is one of puppets on a string, but he layers these robotic body twisters with difficult partnering that speaks volumes of subtext. He exudes a noir presence, but Louwen commands the eye. She is tall and supple with the fierce intensity of compressed energy.
Barcelona superstar Juan de Juan, who heads his own company at 27 (Ballet Flamenco Juan de Juan), came with talented guitarist Jesus del Rosario and singer Antonio Rubio to perform flamenco nuevo with its touches of tap, step dance and other fusions. Although he hovered mostly on stage right, which was irritating, there was no denying his talent. He can make the foot move faster than the eye can see, but his unpredictable legwork, hops, jumps and trance-like posturing within the music were probably unsettling to those used to more conventional flamenco of the smouldering type. That's what made him interesting.
We eagerly await next year.
